Marikana musical wins big at Naledi Theatre awards

The Marikana: The Musical team has much reason to celebrate. They walked off with six Naledi Theatre awards on Tuesday night, including best production of a musical, best director (Aubrey Sekhabi) and best performance in a musical, female (Emma Mmekwa).

Marikana, a South African State Theatre production, was nominated for awards in 13 categories.

Actress Shaleen Surtie-Richards was honoured with a lifetime achievement award for her contribution to local theatre. Surtie-Richards’s acting career dates back to the early 1980s. She is known for her roles in local soapies Generations, 7de Laan and Egoli: Place of Gold. She said the awards evening was a “proud moment” for her.

Actors Jonathan Roxmouth (Call Me Lee) and Brendan van Rhyn (The Rocky Horror Show) shared the best performance in a musical, male award, which is a first for the Naledi awards.

Van Rhyn, who played Dr Frank-N-Furter in the iconic rock musical, first portrayed the “sweet transvestite” at the Victory Theatre in 2008 before reprising the role in the recent Fugard Theatre production, which played to sold-out houses at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg.

In an interview with Top Billing, he described his role as “probably the most sought-after part in male musical theatre [that] every guy wants to play”.

The newly created world impact award went to the National Theatre’s production of War Horse and the horse puppet Joey, designed and crafted by Cape Town’s Handspring Puppet Company.

Katlego Mkhwanazi

Katlego Mkhwanazi is the Mail & Guardian's arts, culture and entertainment content producer. She started her career in magazines, before joining the Mail & Guardian team in 2014. She is an entertainer at heart. Read more from Katlego Mkhwanazi